NOTE: see the bottom of Sunday's Site posts for homes for sale in the area
For most of its existence Eden Prairie was a sleepy village neighboring Chanhassen on the far southwestern fringes of the Twin City area. I remember driving out to Chanhassen Dinner Theater (opened 1968) when it was fairly new but I don't remember driving through Eden Prairie at all…it felt like we were driving out into the middle of nowhere.
When I-94 was completed in the 1970's the mall was not far behind. Eden Prairie Center was built in 1976 with anchor stores Sears and Powers Dry Goods. We were still living in North Dakota at that time, and I remember making a trip out to the 'new mall'…again, what seemed to be out in the middle of nowhere.
When we moved to Eden Prairie in the 1980's Powers had become Donaldsons, then Carson Pirie Scott, and a Target store was built adjacent to the mall. In the early 1990's the mall was pretty dead…the movie Mallrats was filmed there and our daughter's high school graduating class had their senior lock-in party in the mall.
It was gradually transformed over the next decade, with a major renovation in 2001. Anchor stores now include JC Penney, Kohls, Sears and Von Maur department stores and Target Greatland…and it features an entertainment wing with a Barnes & Noble, numerous restaurants and an 18-plex movie theater complex…not even recognizable as the same mall of our daughter's senior lock-in!
Eden Prairie has grown from a population of 2,000 in 1960 to about 62,000 current residents. It changed from a predominantly agricultural rural area to a thriving, business-rich community that is in high demand as a great place to live. It boasts an outstanding school system, numerous lakes and ponds, more than 4,500 acres of open space wetlands and great parks and trail systems.
Click here to see homes currently for sale in Eden Prairie, Minnesota. (Please be patient while the link searches for the most current listings…click on the map to zoom in until you see icons on the dots, then pass your cursor over them for property information.)
Sharlene Hensrud, RE/MAX Results – Email - Eden Prairie Realtor
